I am Fia Rud, the youngest child of the Rud knight family.
I am often told that I look just like my beautiful mother, with her red hair and golden eyes. However, I have never been called beautiful by anyone. Itās quite a mystery.
Unfortunately, it seems that my build is also similar to my motherās. No matter how much I train, I canāt build muscle and remain slender. ... And my chest too!
A knight family is a lineage that holds a territory and is headed by a knight appointed by the king, ranking just below the nobility. If there is no knight to inherit the family, the family is dissolved on the spot.
Therefore, all the children of knight families aim to become knights.
Of course, I was no exception. From a young age, I always wanted to become a knight.
However, becoming a knight is not a profession that anyone can aspire to.
It is the most popular career in the country, and the entry exams for the knightās order have terrifying competition rates, ranging from 50 to 100 times the number of available spots. This is because being appointed as a knight means having oneās status guaranteed by the state, and it is considered a very honorable profession. I think the extremely high salary is also a reason.
The job of a knight is to protect the royal castle, the royal family, and the country.
Specifically, this includes maintaining domestic security, border patrols with neighboring countries, and even exterminating excessive numbers of monsters.
In other words, the most important thing for a knight is swordsmanship.
I, who was born into a knight family, understood this very well.
Because I understood, I trained hard from a young age.
Fortunately, there were many knights within our territory, and all my older siblings were also aiming to become knights, so I never lacked for training partners.
Train, get tired, fall down, sleep, eat, train...
I repeated the same routine day after day without getting bored. It was tough, but fulfilling and enjoyable.
However, one day, I realized something.
Huh?
Come to think of it, Iāve never won a single mock battle?
Oh?
I lost to a new recruit who joined three months ago??
Oh no!
I thought I had perfect timing, but why is my sword being deflected??
...Yes, I had a terrifying lack of talent for swordsmanship.
However, a lack of talent can be somewhat compensated for with effort.
Iām not aiming to be the best knight!
I just want to be one of the many knights appointed by the state!!
Iām not sure if it was out of admiration or stubbornness, but I was driven by the thought of "I will become a knight no matter what!!"
So, even though I realized I lacked talent, I continued to train. As a result, I think I became strong enough to join the lower group of the order. At least, thatās what I believe.
During this time, my two older brothers and sister all became knights, thanks to their abundant talent, and left home.
I only felt lonely when my sister left.
The moment my sword skills were revealed to be lacking, my brothers lost interest and blatantly ignored me, so their departure didnāt change my daily life.
My father, who had seen through my incompetence much earlier than my brothers, had already started to forget about my existence, so his long-term absence as the deputy commander of the Fourteenth Knight Order, guarding the western region, didnāt bother me.
In the end, for the past few years, all my family members have been out, and I have not been able to gauge my current strength.
Thatās why there is a divide of opinion regarding my "Coming of Age Ceremony."
The "Coming of Age Ceremony" is a simple ritual performed around the age of 15.
The content is to pick up a stone from anywhere and have a fortune-teller predict the future based on its color and shape.
However, in our family, there is a special rule.
If one does not aim to become a knight, the rule remains the same, but if one aims to become a knight, one must hunt a monster, retrieve the magic stone from its body, and bring it back to prove oneās strength.
A monster, of course, is a highly aggressive and powerful creature with magical attributes, and it carries a magic stone in its body, the size of which corresponds to its strength.
Most of them live deep in the forest, and those who face them rarely come out unscathed.
Therefore, my sister said I should not be fixated on becoming a knight and should just bring back a regular stone.
My younger brother said that as a daughter of a knight family, I should bring back a magic stone, regardless of life or death.
My older brother, who had no interest, remained silent.
My father, in the guise of respecting my opinion, left the decision entirely up to me.
So, I have decided to retrieve a magic stone to aim for becoming a knight.